I don't think it's a joke, but all signs point to it being an arcade-era Donkey Kong appearance, so I wouldn't expect there to be any DKC references... Still, I do have a soft spot for
the game that started it all, and retrogaming in general, so I see this as something to look forward to.
There's a good chance that short film was heavily inspired by the
original Pixels short, which was released 2+ years before it:
Valerius Dover wrote:Isn't this what Cloverfield should've been?
Hah! Absolutely. I did quite enjoy Cloverfield, despite its lack of classic arcade characters.
As for the cast, Adam Sandler is pretty much synonymous with lame, juvenile humour and formulaic writing. I did enjoy
Happy Gilmore all those years ago, but I couldn't really get into anything of his since then. Oh, except for
50 First Dates, which was a pleasant surprise. I don't really know much about Kevin James or his work (although he was also in 50 First Dates, apparently), but
his Rotten Tomatoes film ratings don't inspire a lot of confidence
.
Still,
Pixels should hopefully be a bit of fun, if nothing else.